This is from the wonderful Zen Mind, Beginners' Mind, a collection of talks from Shunryu Suzuki that has absolutely become a modern classic of Zen literature. It's easy to read, but full of profundity, and I recommend it to anyone who's got the slightest interest in Zen. I think for many people this is the first book on Zen they get for themselves or are given, and it's a wonderful way into this oddity we call Zen!
Suzuki writes:
Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.
What does he mean by this? Is this one of those "my thing is so much better than your thing" things? I don't think so, not for a moment. Our true nature isn't reserved for Zennies or for Buddhists or for people who've left their old faiths behind. It's not for male or female or any other gender or sexual identity. It's not bound by ethnicity or nationality... not even limited to humans. It is expressed in every passing moment of the world and is entirely unavoidable! We might not always recognise it, but we manifest it without the slightest effort.
In zazen, we carry on manifesting it - just perhaps for a moment we stop doing all the other things that we do in our lives and minds!
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